Roulette is a well known casino game played using a rotatable roulette wheel with pockets or canoes around its periphery. Each pocket is separated from an adjacent pocket by a separator or fret. The pockets are marked with numbers 1-36 with an additional pocket for 0 in the European version and two additional pockets for 0 and 00 in the American version. Each of the numbers 1-36 is colored either red or black such that eighteen of the numbers are red and eighteen are black. The numbers 0 (and 00, in the American version) are usually colored green so that they can be distinguished from the red and black numbers.
The wheel axis is mounted on a gaming table covered with a layout having areas marked with numbers corresponding to the numbers on the roulette wheel. The areas for the numbers one through thirty-six are arranged in a matrix of twelve rows (or streets) by three columns. Thus, each row (or street) includes three numbers and each column includes twelve numbers. Areas for the 0 (and 00, in the American version) are positioned at one end of the matrix of numbers. By positioning chips inside numbered wagering areas or along borders or intersections of numbered wagering areas, players may place wagers on one or more numbers. For example, a split wager on two numbers is placed on the line separating the two numbers; a trio wager on three numbers is placed on the intersection of three numbers (typically, only the 0, 1, 2 areas and the 00, 2, 3 areas are laid out for placement of a trio wager); and a corner wager on four numbers is placed on the intersection of four numbers. The layout also includes proposition wagers on sets of multiple numbers such as: odd numbers; even numbers; black numbers; red numbers; high numbers; low numbers; numbers by dozen (e.g. first twelve numbers or 1-12, second twelve numbers or 13-24, and third twelve numbers or 25-36); numbers within a street; and numbers within a column.
To play the game, players place chips on one or more wagering areas and a ball is launched into the spinning roulette wheel. The ball eventually comes to rest in a pocket to define the winning number and proposition wagers. Players are rewarded based on the nature of the wager placed. A winning number wager is typically rewarded at 35 to 1; winning split wagers are typically rewarded at 17 to 1; winning street wagers and trio wagers are typically rewarded at 11 to 1; winning corner wagers are typically rewarded at 8 to 1; winning dozen and column wagers are typically rewarded at 2 to 1; and winning odd, even, black, red, high, and low wagers are typically rewarded at even money.
Drawbacks of table or “live” roulette are that (1) the number and nature of winning propositions are limited and (2) there exists no mechanism to offer a large jackpot.